A displaced Californian composer writes about music made for the long while & the world around that music. ~
The avant-garde is flexibility of mind. — John Cage ~
...composition is only a very small thing, taken as a part of music as a whole, and it really shouldn't be separated from music making in general. — Douglas Leedy ~
My God, what has sound got to do with music! — Charles Ives

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Revolutions

Well, today, I've finished 45 trips around the sun. If anything at all has been learned in these 45 years, it's dwarfed by the extent of everything still to be learned. The possibility of surprise and change to come, despite my present and abundant ignorance, is as good a reason as it gets to keep working.

Is there any old saying more misleading than nihil novi sub sole ("there's nothing new under the sun")? My grandfather, now 97, is putting the finishing touches on his first novel, with a fictionalized account growing up on a 65,000-acre ranch in central-coastal California in the 'teens. My daughter, four, just delivered a stack of drawings; her discoveries in perspective, proportion, contrast, color, are daily reminders of the capacity to look at this old world in ever new ways. If I'm able to summon up even a fraction of the creative energy that those two have, then I'll be good to go for at least the next 45 trips.